A crowd of about 80 bundled-up spectators witnessed the first
prep soccer game staged in the evening Monday as Hollister High
laid out the welcome mat for Gilroy in a Tri-County Athletic League
girls match at Andy Hardin Field.
A crowd of about 80 bundled-up spectators witnessed the first prep soccer game staged in the evening Monday as Hollister High laid out the welcome mat for Gilroy in a Tri-County Athletic League girls match at Andy Hardin Field.
It was a real nail-biter – er, frost-biter as the Balers, in ping-pong-like fashion, shut out the Mustangs 7-0.
The Balers (8-3-2, 1-0-1) unleashed serious pressure early, often and then some, finally punching one across in the fourth minute. Kory Case took a short pass from Brianna Griffith in front of the Mustangs’ net and bounced one by Gilroy goalie Dallas Hernandez.
Ten minutes later, Jennifer Vandenberg, last year’s Offensive MVP in the Monterey Bay League as a freshman, dribbled past three Mustangs players on the left flank and booted one on the ground by Hernandez for the Balers’ second goal.
Vandenberg did the “dribble by half the defense” bit once more in the 20th minute for 3-0 in Hollister’s favor. In the 28th minute, Vandenberg took a feed from Ali Schmidt and passed to Jenny Maheu, who rocketed in her 24th goal of the season.
Maheu returned the favor when she headed the ball towards the Mustangs’ end while in the air while battling a Gilroy player at midfield. That girl Vandenberg jumped on Maheu’s header, dribbled around two more Gilroy defenders and put one past an oncoming Hernandez in the 37th minute for 5-0 and a Vandenberg hat trick. – her 36th goal of the season, which must be tops in the Central Coast Section or thereabouts.
For the half, the Balers outshot the Mustangs 15-2.
“My girls were talking about the pressure Hollister put on us,” said Mustangs first-year coach Adam Gemar, whose club is 1-4-1 overall, 0-2 in the TCAL. “Hollister won all the 50-50 ball. We weren’t passing it enough, either. I knew Hollister was going to be tough and that they had one or two very good players. Their team beat us, though.”
Hollister coach Michael Schurig rested his front line at the start of the second half, though he did put Maheu back into the game with 10 minutes to play. Maheu shot just once and didn’t score again, but the Balers did tally two more goals, both on direct kicks.
Sophomore Julie Broyer let fly with one from about 40 yards out in the 60th minute. The ball bounced and went over Hernandez’ head. Hernandez came out of the match temporarily after a ball hit her in the face.
Chantelle Guajardo’s direct kick sailed a little on backup goalie Megan Olea. The ball went off Olea’s hands and into goal. It was Guajardo’s first career goal after transferring to Hollister from Anzar High at the beginning of last school year.
“It was exciting,” said Guajardo. “We could have had more goals in the second half. We came out and tried our best tonight and that’s what we had to do.”
“We played good control soccer,” said Schurig. “Lots of players played tonight. Gilroy lost some players from last year. They have a new coach and he’s building a program. They had some girls who had some fitness because they stayed with us the whole match.”
The Balers have a good shot to go to 2-0-1 in the TCAL when they host North Salinas (4-6-2, 0-2-0) this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Vikings lost to Live Oak 3-0 Monday.
Baler bit: Two more night games are slated: Jan. 28 vs. Live Oak and Feb. 7 vs. Salinas.
JV score: Hollister 4, Mustangs 0. In a shortened game, Baler goals came from Felicia Freitas, Kathleen McCullough, Erica Trujillo and Melissa Lewis.
